


Dreams of the Future

by lunarpaddle



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, The rest of the team are there, but I don't wanna tag for them bc they're not super a big deal in this, weird time-ghost raina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24351364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarpaddle/pseuds/lunarpaddle
Summary: The first time Daisy sees Raina after her death, she’s just finished meeting her father for the first time, again. Looking back, she’ll think this is why she isn’t more surprised – at this point her life has more or less kicked into full gear with the weirdness, so what’s one more person back from the dead?A retelling of Seasons 3 to 5, if Raina's powers had been a bit more...complicated.
Relationships: Raina/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Daisy sees Raina after her death, she’s just finished meeting her father for the first time, again. Looking back, she’ll think this is why she isn’t more surprised – at this point her life has more or less kicked into full gear with the weirdness, so what’s one more person back from the dead?

“Raina.” It’s barely a greeting, more of a warning than anything else, accompanied by a hand half-raised in her direction – Daisy knows she should probably already be attacking, should probably be doing something, but she just can’t find the energy. Besides, Raina was, technically, on her side the last time they interacted (even if her not actually being dead kinda put a damper on the whole, angelic sacrifice thing she had going on).

Raina, for her part, looks almost surprised for a second before her usual calm, self-confident mask slides into place.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it? Heavenly, you could almost say.” Daisy snorts at that. Of course she’s being as cryptic as ever.

“Look, I don’t know how you’re here, but I’ve had a really long day, and if it weren’t for you I might never have figured out what my mom was up to in time, so – I’m not gonna try and take you in or anything, alright? Just – just leave me alone. And stay out of trouble.” Raina cocks her head at that, hood sliding down to reveal her thorns in all their strange beauty.

“I can try, I suppose.” Raina smirks, and Daisy turns around and walks away. God, she could really use a nap right now – honestly, she was half convinced she was seeing things. The street might have been busy, but she still would have expected more people to notice a girl standing in the middle of it, covered head to toe in thorns.

\---

She’s sitting on her bunk, mourning yet another inhuman they didn’t reach soon enough, when she hears Raina’s voice again.

“It’s not your fault, you know.” This time, she does freak out – Raina shouldn’t be here, in the playground, in her bunk, something is seriously wrong, but she looks up and reaches out and quakes Raina with all her strength and – nothing happens.

Well, something happens – the room shakes, papers and clothes fly everywhere, and in less than a minute Mack’s barging through the door in a panic.

“Tremors! Are you – I thought I heard you doing your thing. Everything okay?” Daisy spends several seconds glancing back and forth between Mack and Raina, who stands untouched amidst the chaos, before she realises what’s going on.

“I – I’m fine, Mack. Just got a bit startled by something, is all.” He looks at her like that makes no sense, which is fair, because it doesn’t, but he nods and leaves, closing the door behind him – he’s hardly in a good mood about the morning’s mission, either.

“Well, that’s certainly…interesting,” Raina drawls, but Daisy just rolls her eyes and sits back down on her bed. She's seeing things, for whatever reason, and short of going to Andrew about it (which she absolutely refused to do under any circumstances) all she could do was ignore it and keep going as normal.

Raina stands there for a while, staring at her, before speaking again. “Skye, I don’t know why I’m here, but – “

“It’s Daisy.” Well. So much for ignoring her. She looks up, but Raina is gone.

\----

The world is screaming around her, and Fitz – Fitz just fucking jumped through the portal, and now she has to keep it open, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much she feels like she’s shaking apart. Everything else has faded to a blur, but there in front of her is Raina, eyes soft and staring into hers.

“You can do this, Daisy. Just a little bit longer.” It hurts, it hurts too much, everything around her feels wrong, except Raina – she can feel her, how the fuck can she feel her, she’s a hallucination – and she can feel the last of her energy seeping away.

“I can’t hold it,” she cries, but Raina just smiles and takes a step closer.

“Just a little bit longer, Daisy. I believe in you.”

The portal shatters to pieces, erupting from the floor, and as she falls to the ground the last thing she sees is Fitz, and Jemma, safe.

\---

Daisy’s in her bunk again the next time it happens. She’s just lost her shit at Lincoln, and part of her feels guilty, but part of her just – part of her just thinks that with every passing day she sees more and more why her mother did what she did. She wants to believe in a better way, she does, but every time someone starts talking about a vaccine, or complaining about how “lucky” she is, or treating other inhumans like threats before even talking to them, she just wants to scream.

“It’s a shame, what happened to Afterlife.” And there Raina is again, sitting against the far wall this time, knees brought up to her chest. She doesn’t have the energy this time – not to ignore her, not to be angry at her, not to be scared of her. So she talks to her instead.

“Part of me wants to go start up another place like it, a halfway house, like Andrew was talking about. But I just don’t think I’m the right person for it. I talk a big game, and clearly everyone thinks I’ve got some “natural zen” thing going on with my powers, but – I’m still getting used to this. The only way I really handle it all is just, keep moving, keep doing, always another objective, always saving the world. And if other people want in on that, that’s great, I can help with that, but – “

“But you’re not your mother. You’re an agent, a fighter, a hero, even – but not a leader.” Raina sounds so knowing, so understanding. It’s weirdly comforting.

“You said I was destined to lead, back at Afterlife. It was one of the last things you said to me.” That draws a dry laugh from Raina, who finally looks up at her.

“Everything seemed so clear, that last day. I was your guardian angel, there to die so you would see the truth, my purpose finally fulfilled. But I died in pain, and alone, just like most people do – I suppose we’re all just people in the end.”

“But here you are, right? Showing up whenever I need you. My guardian angel." Daisy meets Raina's eyes and Raina smiles, warm and bright and everything she didn't know Raina could be, and she can’t help but smile back.

Raina disappears a little while later, and this time Daisy can’t help but hope she sees her again soon.

\---

Daisy’s standing on a blazing rooftop, looking out over the city, bones aching as she waits for a Quinjet to fly down and get her out of there.

“Is this what it felt like for you, seeing the future?” She speaks first this time, because she can feel Raina there, standing beside her, even without looking.

“I think so, yes. All the pieces fall into place, and it’s dreadful, so very dreadful – but there’s a warmth to it. A calmness.” Daisy smiles at that, watching as a black shape in the sky draws closer.

“I get it now. Why you got the way you did, all mysterious and prophetic. It’s hard not to feel a bit angelic right now.” 

Daisy reaches out to take Raina’s hand, but there’s nothing there. 

\---

Raina appears the moment Hive gets in her head, and she doesn’t disappear till he leaves. She never says a word, never looks at her cruelly, never asks her to stop. She’s just there, and there, and there, and Daisy doesn’t care at the time but when she looks back at it all it means the world. 

Hive can see her too, through Daisy, and at first he’s calm, and then furious when he can’t sway her, can’t even touch her, and eventually he just ignores her – orders Daisy to ignore her too. She does, of course.

And then Lash frees her, dies for her, and she’s so, so, tired, but Raina is finally speaking – “Daisy, you need to close the ramp,” – and she’s crawling to her feet, drained and empty and broken – “You can do this, Daisy, I believe in you, just a little bit further,” – and she just barely makes it to the cockpit, collapsing onto the seat – “You need to hurry, Daisy, they’re coming, you need to get out of here,” – and she flies out of there, and she goes home.

Raina is there the whole way, soft words of reassurance and kindness blurring into one another, and Daisy wishes more than ever that she could just sink into her embrace, that any of this was real, that someone really did care that much (even though Hive saw her too, that means something, doesn’t that mean something?) - and then the ramp opens and she stumbles out to guards and cuffs and hurt looks, and it’s only when the doors close on the containment cell that she realises Raina is gone.

It hurts more than any of the rest of it, somehow.


	2. Chapter 2

Raina doesn’t appear again for months. She goes back to Hive, begs him to take her back, fights him and loses and loses Lincoln because of it – and she doesn’t think she loved him, not really, not like he loved her, but maybe she could have and now she’ll never, ever know. She cries and screams and runs to hide where nobody can find her, and Raina’s gone for all of it.

Part of her is furious – so much for her guardian angel. Part of her thinks maybe Raina knows, somehow, that Daisy doesn’t want her there. Doesn’t want anyone there.

Nevertheless, one day, after a particularly brutal fight with a cell of watchdogs, whilst she’s trying and failing to bandage up her own hands when every bone in them is broken, Raina comes back. Daisy stares, trying and failing to work out what to say, but Raina beats her to it.

“I like the new look. Very early 2000s.” Her tone of voice betrays the otherwise light-hearted words – she’s shaking, her voice cracks halfway through, her smile just barely plastered on.

“Where the fuck have you been. It’s been months.” Daisy’s own voice, in contrast, is cold, flat, void of emotion – she’s just too tired to be angry. It seems like she always is, when Raina shows up.

Raina’s eyes widen at this, and then she just – she loses it. Daisy didn’t know Raina had it in her, to lose it like this. She collapses down against the wall, shaking and sobbing, and then she just screams, so loud it hurts Daisy’s ears, and tears at the hotel room carpet to no effect, which just frustrates her more. It goes on like that for a few minutes, and Daisy just sits there, as she slows and slows till she looks just as tired and empty as Daisy feels.

“I’m so fed up of this. I thought, at first, maybe I was here to – to do some good, or something, to fulfil my purpose, but I was there for all that time with Hive and I couldn’t do anything and then when you – when you actually needed me, when I actually could have gotten through to you, could have helped, I was gone. Maybe – maybe this is my penance. To care for you, and watch you suffer, and be completely helpless.” She’s still crying, tears making their way down her face, pooling on the ends of her thorns and dripping down like water from a stalactite.

Daisy gets up, finally, and goes to take a seat in front of her, legs planted on the wall either side of her, hands planted on the floor right where hers are – not touching, but overlapping.

“I can’t give you a hug, but uh – this is about as close as I can get, I reckon. Besides like, I dunno, literally sitting exactly where you are or something? But that would be like, you’d be like inside me, and that sounds pretty gross.” 

Raina coughs out a laugh at that, and she’s smirking that familiar, wonderful smirk. “Don’t want me inside of you, Daisy?”

“I – oh, fuck off, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” Daisy’s blushing, but she’s smiling now too, and the world feels a little bit less awful. They sit there like that for a minute, and then Raina speaks up.

“There’s so much I wanted to say to you, before I died. Even before that last vision, I was starting to realise how much I’d messed up. How much of a fool I had been. I was so angry at you for so long – angry at you for being the one Cal truly cared about, angry at you for trying to stop me evolving, angry at you for stealing what I thought was rightfully mine, angry at you for not wanting it. Eventually I realised I was just angry at you no matter what you did – you were just a convenient scapegoat. I was the one I was really angry at – I made so many mistakes, did so many awful things, and every time I paid the price I tried to put it on someone else, so I wouldn’t have to accept it. And right now, you’re doing the opposite.” Daisy’s gaze jerks down to the floor at that, her stomach churning.

“You’re so angry at yourself, putting all the blame on yourself, because otherwise you’d have to accept that it wasn’t your fault at all – that you had no control over what happened. That you couldn’t have stopped it if you tried.”

“That’s – that’s not true. If I just hadn’t been so stupid as to get caught alone by Hive, if I’d just been more careful – “ 

“Anyone could have made that mistake, Daisy. You know that. You’d never punish someone else for making it, not in a million years, not in the way you’re punishing yourself right now.” She lets out a sob at that, clenching her fists and then crying out in pain because of it. Raina returns her gesture from earlier, moving her hands to where Daisy’s are.

“What I wanted to say to you, Daisy, before I died, is that I’m sorry – sorry for hurting you, and the people you love. I’m so, so sorry. Because I saw you then Daisy, for the first time, and I still see you today, and you’re so amazing – so strong, and so brave, and so bullheadedly kind in the face of all the cruelty you’ve suffered, and you made me want to be like you. To be better. You still do.”

SAnd then she's crying, really, properly crying, she thinks for the first time since Lincoln died – and when she looks up Raina’s gone, but it’s okay this time. She knows she’ll be back.

\---

Daisy starts healing. It’s slow, and painful, but things start getting better. She fights alongside Robbie to save the world, and she comes back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and her family, and somehow, impossibly, the life she thought she’d lost is still right there. Raina, for her part, starts showing up even when Daisy’s not in the midst of a mental breakdown - though neither of them understand why, or even what’s really going on with them. Daisy can't really bring herself to care. She's pretty sure this is real now, and she’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It’s when the world’s about to go to shit that someone else sees Raina again.

“Daisy, someone’s coming. Take one of the LMDs out, disguise yourself as one.” Daisy rolls her eyes at that, already in the process of stripping one of them down.

“I can actually come up with ideas by myself, Raina. Fully qualified S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and all that.”

Raina laughs. “Please, you’d be lost without me. Now come on, hurry up, they’re nearly here.”

Mack – well, probably not Mack, given the circumstances, but someone who looked a whole lot like Mack – strode into the room, and looked directly at Raina.

“What the Fuck?” Not-Mack says, and Daisy takes the opportunity to quake him into a wall. They brawl, briefly, but she gets the upper hand and knocks him out without too much trouble.

“He could see you,” Daisy says.

“I know,” Raina replies. “Your life just keeps on getting more interesting, doesn’t it? I’m glad it’s you I’m haunting.”

\---

She doesn’t see Raina in the framework at first, and she’s too busy to worry too much about it, but then a Hydra agent is holding her and May at gunpoint and it’s Raina that saves them, knocking him out cleanly as Mack and Coulson come running up behind her. She just kinda… stands there, gaping. She’s not really sure how else to react.

“Hello, Daisy. It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?” That’s – it’s her Raina, real and present, or at least as real and present as anything in here. 

“Daisy, this is Raina – she’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and don’t worry, she never makes sense as far as I can tell," Coulson says, and she honestly feels a little bit like passing out.

Eventually they make their way to the Playground - which yeah, in retrospect, of course that was where the resistance was based - and Jemma is there, clearly done with, well, all of this. 

"I still can't believe you're dating Ward here," she says, "And Raina's here too! The "Oracle of the Resistance" - honestly, it's just a greatest hits album of people we thought we were finally done with." 

"Yeah, well, Trip's here too - you always seemed kinda hot for him, gonna give that a shot?" Daisy teases.

"Daisy! I'm not - he's not real, I'm not going to, to have sex with a line of - and what would Fitz think!" Jemma's face just gets more and more flushed as she goes on, and Daisy breaks down laughing. She's glad they can all still have moments like this, even in the middle of an apocalypse.

"You two seem like you're having fun," Raina drawls, appearing from seemingly nowhere as usual, despite her newly found corporeal status. Jemma freezes up a little, but Daisy just grins.

"Just reminiscing," Daisy shoots back. "You know we knew you, in the real world?"

"Ah, yes, Ward had mentioned something about this all being a simulation," Raina replies, and Jemma is looking at Daisy like she's gone mad but this is just too much fun. "He seemed quite distraught about it all. Was I as awful to you in that world as he was?"

"Yes," Jemma immediately snaps.

"I dunno, you did like, kinda heroically sacrifice yourself to reveal the truth and help me save the world. I thought that was pretty cool." Jemma rolls her eyes at that and stalks off, leaving her alone with Raina.

“This is proof you’re in my head,” she tells Raina, stepping closer to her in the process. “How else would you have come through with me?”

“I don’t care,” Raina replies, “because I get to do this now.” And then she takes her hand and drags her through the base to her bunk (Raina has, apparently, taken the bunk that was hers back in the real world - Daisy tries to make fun of her for it, but Raina doesn't seem phased), and she hugs her, and pulls her down onto the bed, and they lie there wrapped up in each other for an hour that feels simultaneously like forever and like barely anything at all.

"I've wanted to do this for so long," Raina says. "You've been through so much, and I just wanted to hold you till it was better."

"I would have liked that," Daisy replies, "you're a shockingly good hugger for someone literally covered in spikes."

Eventually Coulson comes knocking, and it’s time to go raid a news studio, and then everything’s a whirlwind of action till they get to the steel mill. Raina helps every step of the way, and everyone seems to like her (apart from Jemma, who remembers her, and won’t stop giving Daisy weird looks, and when everyone else is through the portal they kiss, short and messy and full of fire, and then they dive through together, hand in hand.

\---

Nothing really calms down after that – they rescue their friends, fly back to the playground, face off against AIDA and Talbot. The next moment of even relative peace she gets is sitting next to Elena's bed trying desperately to keep her alive in the framework a little longer. Raina shows up, then, and stares at her from the seat next to her.

“Part of me wishes you hadn’t done that, you know. I don’t – I don’t think it’s something we’ll ever get to do again.” She hadn’t even thought of that, hadn’t had the time, but it burns a hole in her gut now that she is thinking about it. But still – 

“All the more reason to do it then, don’t you think?” Fitz sits down where Raina was before she can reply, causing her to fizzle out of existence (which does finally answer the question of what that would do to her). He looks over her shoulder at the computer with an expression that she’s come to recognise means that he’s not, actually, looking at what she’s doing – he’s trying to work out how to say something.

“Simmons mentioned you and, er, Raina, seemed awfully friendly in the Framework. What – what was that all about?” Right. Maybe she should have tried to be, like, a little less obvious about that whole thing.

“Would you believe me if I told you that after she died she turned into a time-ghost who’s been haunting me ever since? Except like, very nice and supportive haunting. More like a whole guardian angel type deal I guess.” 

“I mean, yeah,” Fitz doesn’t even hesitate to reply, “that really doesn’t seem all that unlikely given the stuff that happens these days.” Which is fair, actually, she really should have realised people would probably believe her at this point. “She’s like, not evil anymore or anything? Not causing any more problems?”

“Uh, no, yeah she’s – she’s pretty awesome now, actually.”

“Cool. We should probably focus on killing my evil robot demon ex-girlfriend right now, but you’re bloody well telling me all about this later.”

Daisy can’t help but laugh at that. 

\---

They don’t get a chance to talk about it though, because everything keeps happening at the stupidly quick pace she’s actually starting to get kinda used to? And then they’re all at the diner, and Raina’s there behind the bar, staring down at her with a smile in her eyes.

“You know, I think this is the first time we’ve all been together in a really long time,” says Coulson, and Raina grins even wider at that, and god – this all feels so much like home, like family, and it’s perfect (or at least, as perfect as it can get without Raina actually sitting there beside her).

The lights flicker, and May says “Here we go,” and then they’re off to the races again.

\---

Daisy thinks she’s in space. She can’t be sure, but on the other side of one of the walls in this corridor there’s barely any vibrations, not even the air she’d usually expect to find. She makes her way down dark, gritty hallways (why can’t they ever save the world somewhere nice and brightly lit), and she turns a corner to find Raina, lounging back against a nearby wall.

“Something feels…different. I think we might have travelled in time,” Raina says, and fuck, really? 

“Yeah, I think we’re in space, too. Guess we’re amping up the weird shit factor yet again.” Raina laughs at that, and god, she loves her laugh so much. She never really got to hear it before.

“I continue to be appreciative that it is your delightfully exciting life I am along for the ride on, Daisy Johnson. And perhaps this time my being a – what did you tell Fitz I was? A “time-ghost”? – will come in handy.”

“Hey, I think it was pretty handy in the Framework! You totally kicked ass in there, it was great.”

“Oh please, you’re just glad you got to kiss me.”

“Damn, you got me” Daisy replies, winking at Raina before turning a corner to find her friends being assaulted by some kind of four-legged alien monster.

She hesitates for a moment, unsure, then vaporises it.

“You’ve really gotten a lot more lethal since we first met, you know. It’s sort of hot.” God, why does Raina say shit like this when she’s right in front of her friends? 

“Daisy, who the fuck is that,” says Elena, and everything promptly goes to shit.


	3. Chapter 3

Raina is real, and she doesn’t at all know how to feel about it. It’s slightly less of a shock to the system after the Framework, she supposes. She wasn’t real there, not really, but she at least felt real. 

Simmons had attacked her, and she hadn't even tried to fight it - she hadn't expected to be corporeal, you see, and it had been quite a shock.

Ahead of her in the corridor Daisy is having an extended argument with Coulson and Simmons. Her hair is getting long again, and Raina can’t help but think about running her fingers through it, as she’d spent so much time doing in the Framework. Some old instinct chastises her for the thought, before she reminds herself that Daisy had kissed her, so she was probably allowed to think these sorts of things now. It's been an exciting 48 hours. 

Raina hears the word "girlfriend," float back down the corridor from the ongoing argument. Is that what they are? She supposes conventional labels aren't really built for situations like this.

“So how does the whole thorns thing work, anyway? Don’t you like, accidentally stab yourself all the time? And how do you and Daisy… well, you know – “

“Do you make a habit of asking strangers about their sex lives?” Raina replies, feeling rather overwhelmed.

Elena just cackles. “Yes,” Mack says, “she does, it’s awful.” 

“Besides, we’re getting to know you! That means you’re not a stranger anymore,” Elena says.

“Oh really? In that case, I’m sure you won’t mind me asking how on earth you and the Mountain over here manage when he looks like he could crush you in one hand – I’ve always wondered.”

Elena just laughs more. “Oh man, me and Mack are nothing – we met this one inhuman on a mission who’s whole thing was like, he was huge, like twice Mack’s height! And his boyfriend was like, normal human size, the poor thing, but we ended up staying in a hotel room next door to them and the noise, oh my god – “

Raina burst out laughing, despite all efforts to keep up her whole cool calm demeanour – and honestly why was she even trying to do that anyway, these were Daisy’s friends.

“I can just tell you two are going to be a nightmare,” says Mack, and she thinks he’s probably right. She can’t wait.

\---

They end up hiding her in Virgil's old room, Elena running her from dark corner to dark corner until they get there. They all go off to do their thing, and she's left to - well, they don't give her a job, actually. Daisy is apparently having a hard enough time convincing the remnants of the old bus squad that she's trustworthy, so being shut up in here is kind of serving double duty keeping her safe and contained at the same time. It makes her feel sick, and she can actually feel sick now, physical body and all.

Elena shows up that evening, to explain everything that's gone down. Mack, apparently, doesn't feel like talking to her just yet. Daisy's off trying to rescue Simmons - they expected her back by now, but Elena says that it's no big deal, and they should only really start worrying if she's not back by morning.

"It's just," she tells Elena, "what if this changes everything? I should be happy, I know, that I'm alive again, that I'm real. But what we had going worked, and now it's all falling apart - most of her friends hate me, I'm not properly trained, I'm a liability now that people can actually see me. What if we can never get back what we had?"

Elena takes a second to think before replying. "I think you're asking the wrong question," she says. "This will change everything, you won't get back what you had, not exactly. But it's up to you, what it all changes into, whether it falls apart or whether you build something better from the pieces. What you need to be asking yourself, is - what will you become?"

Raina cracks up at that, and ends up having to explain the whole story of why that's so funny to her. It's good advice though. When has she ever settled for what she's already had? She'll make Daisy's friends like her, she'll prove that she's useful, she'll work to be brighter and better than she ever was before. She told Daisy, once, that she wanted to be more like her - time to put that into practice.

\---

Daisy's still not back, and Deke says she's "gone dark" but Raina doesn't believe him for a second. She plays along though, and insists on accompanying May and Coulson on their mission to level 35. She's good in a fight, she insists, and she knows more science stuff than either of them, and she's picked up a fair bit of hacking from Daisy over the years too. They agree, begrudgingly - she thinks this is probably Coulson's way of testing her.

Deke gets them in, and she finds her way to the nearest computer and gains access as quickly as possible.

"They're using newborns as a commodity?" She hears Coulson exclaim from where the rest of them are gathered around a cot. It makes sense - with Kree technology, even precious metals and resources would be fairly easy to obtain, or even fabricate. Inhumans? Those would still have value. The rest of the industry here was probably more to keep the humans too occupied for rebellion, now that she seriously thinks about it.

She kind of hates that she still thinks this way, but Daisy would say that it's actions that matter, not thoughts. Unfortunately, the computer is telling her that Daisy has not, in fact, gone dark. She knew it.

"Deke sold Daisy out," she calls over to them, spinning the screen around to face them. "She's been in captivity for days." May punches Deke in the face, and he tries to explain but before he gets the chance there are Kree storming the room. She lets the others fight them off, spinning the computer back around and transferring as much data as she can onto what she's pretty sure is a sci-fi usb stick she found in Virgil's room. Just because she wasn't given a mission doesn't mean she wasn't going to make herself useful. By the time she's done Coulson and May are arguing over who stays and who goes, and Deke has been stabbed, which she draws a fair amount of satisfaction from.

She could go back with Coulson. Get the truth out of Deke, the painful way. Get revenge for what he did to Daisy. But - 

"You're both going with him. I'm strong, I have as good a chance against them as you with your leg like that May. And they won't kill me - I'm inhuman, they'll want to capture me for auction. Who knows what they'd do to a human." And, if she does get taken to be sold, maybe she can find Daisy. Get her out of there.

May gives her a long, heavy look. Assessing her, probably.

"Fine." She slips herself back under Deke's other arm, and begins helping Coulson get him out of there.

"Raina," Coulson calls out from the doorway. "Try not to die, okay? I think Daisy would be pissed."

She just grins. "I have no intention of dying a second time, Coulson. Punch Deke for me, will you?"

And then they're gone, and the woman stepping through the door looks lethal, but she's lethal too, and she has a girlfriend to go find.

\---

She doesn't quite manage to beat the Kree woman, but she manages to injure her pretty badly, which she thinks might be important - the woman, Sinara, is apparently Casius's right hand. He rages at her, at first, when she's taken before him - but then he gets this awful expression on his face, and says he thinks he knows just the way to see her properly punished. 

She's left alone in her room for a while, and at one point some Kree come in and install some kind of chip in her neck. They call it an inhibitor, but it does nothing - she supposes she's unlikely to get any prophetic dreams with it in, but it's hardly going to revert her to her original form. They seem frustrated at that, but they drag her out to the fighting halls nonetheless, and when she looks up she sees that both Simmons and Fitz are standing in the viewing area. Interesting.

"Now our main event, one of the galaxy's deadliest forces, yet tonight she fights for your enjoyment. Dear friends, may I present to you - Quake! The Destroyer of Worlds!" Oh shit. Well. This wasn't going to be good. Daisy stalks into the room, and it takes her a second to recognise who she's supposed to be fighting. The shock is visible on her face when she does.

"Set against one of her own friends - a powerful inhuman who nearly managed to best Sinara herself." And then Daisy's grinning, that familiar, dumb grin, and the world slides back into place as they walk up to eachother.

"You nearly beat Sinara? I've seen her fight, she's pretty badass." Of course that's what Daisy would latch on to.

"And I'm not? I'll have you know I put her out of action with a thorn to the ankle - she won't be walking again any time soon."

"I wouldn't bet on that, Kree tech's pretty advanced. So what's the plan?"

"Why are you asking me? You've been here longer, have you managed to talk to Fitz? Or Simmons? Also, when did you destroy a world, how did I miss that?"

Daisy opens her mouth to reply when they hear the barrier come down above them - Simmons has apparently managed to slit Casius's throat, and Fitz is jumping down from the stand and firing up at the guards behind him. Daisy flies up to take a shot at the remaining nobles (and Raina will never stop appreciating how badass, and hot, it is that her girlfriend can fly), but someone flips her inhibitor back on, and Raina just barely catches her on the way down.

Jemma is proposing to Fitz, she thinks, but this really isn't the time, so she yells over at them to hurry up and sets Daisy down as they head for the door, impaling a Kree guard on the other side with a thorn.

"Aren't you supposed to be a time ghost?" Fitz comments as they fight their way down a corridor.

"Don't ask me," she replies, "I think the time travel messed that up."

Simmons starts saying something about inhuman biology that she'd probably find quite interesting, if she wasn't hyperfocused on making sure nothing laid a finger on Daisy, and by the time they find a room to hole up in briefly her and Fitz are neck-deep in a conversation about time travel and science and fate.

"In my experience," she tells Simmons, "prophecies tend to come true."

Simmons is bent over double screaming in pain before she can respond.

"It's the implant," Fitz yells, "we need to get it out!" And he's grabbing a pair of - of pliers, jesus, she knows he's not medically trained but still - 

"Let me," she says, grabbing the toolkit and pushing him aside as the door slams open. 

She works as fast as she can, trying not to worry about the fight going on behind her. Simmons is somehow managing to glare at her despite the screaming, but she manages to cut it out without too much damage, and they're up and out of the room in time to see Fitz's ship explode.

"You know," she says to Daisy, "I appreciate the excitement of your life a lot less now it's happening to me too."

\---

"Maybe I don't go with you," Daisy is saying. "You know it's the right move. Raina, you know - you know I can't go back. You've sacrificed yourself before, you know why I have to do this."

She reaches out a hand, cups Daisy's face in it. She can't even bring herself to be angry, she's just - terrified. "Screw fate," she tells Daisy, "and screw sacrifice. If I've learnt one thing from all this, it's that nothing ever goes as we expect it to. We'll find another way." Daisy stares back at her, shocked, and then Coulson's shooting her with an ICER and looking at Raina like he's daring her to challenge him on it. 

"Thankyou," she says instead, and scoops Daisy up into her arms. 

"We need her to lead," he says, and that makes her laugh, thinking of all the times Daisy has rejected that very notion.

"I told her that once," she replies, "I was wrong then, and you are wrong now. But she still deserves to live. We all do." Coulson seems a little annoyed with her at that, but May gives her a look that she thinks might actually have some respect in it. She's not sure. May's expressions are even harder to decode than her own.

They fight, and they run, but they all make it to the Obelisk in the end. And then they're home.


	4. Chapter 4

“A light from the sky.”

“Figured you’d be interested.” They’re all gathered around the screen, staring at…something. Raina slips her hand into Daisy’s, just because she can.

“This is what Voss warned me about. If he’s right, then this is where it all starts. Hell on earth.” Coulson had a real flair for the dramatic. She appreciated that.

“Aaand we’re back.” She doesn’t know what Mack was expecting – they don’t get breaks. She takes a moment to appreciate that somewhere along the line, she’s become a part of that “they”, before saying what’s on her mind.

“That looks like the beacon Hive used to summon the Kree,”

“You were there for that?” Simmons asks, giving her an odd look. Daisy shifts uncomfortably besides her.

“I was there for the whole time Daisy was with Hive. I saw a lot of that thing.”

“Good, then maybe you can help us shut it off when we get there. Someone summoning the Kree to earth sounds like exactly how what we saw would start.” Coulson has a point, unfortunately.

“Great. But I’m not going.” She spins to look at Daisy. They just – they just got back to eachother, why is she like this – 

“What?” Simmons seems just as confused.

“I’m responsible for ending the world, I’d rather not get near one of the first omens.” Ugh. Another good point. Is this what Fitzsimmons felt like all the time, constantly pulled apart from one another?

She resolves to take Daisy on a date the first chance she gets. Even if it literally has to take place inside the lighthouse. Clearly they’ll have to take their quality time wherever they can get it.

\---

She finds Daisy slumped against a wall, tears in her eyes. Coulson’s just announced that he’s going to die – that he needs Daisy alive to lead after he’s gone. She can see the pain in everyone’s faces, she feels it herself to an extent, but she knows it’s not the same.

“You – you’re not my guardian angel anymore,” Daisy tells her. “You don’t have to keep showing up whenever things get bad.”

“I know. But I’m your girlfriend now, I think, and that means I want to.” She wants to yell at Coulson for making her feel like this, as much as she understands why he did what he did.

“He should have told us.”

“He should have. But he was determined to sacrifice himself, just like you were back in the future.”

“Yeah, and when I tried to do that he fucking shot me!”

“Exactly. He wouldn’t let you die, and now you’re not going to let him die.” She finally looks up, at that. “Our choices matter, Daisy. You get to choose whether or not you want to lead, I get to choose to be a better person – Coulson doesn’t think he has a choice. But you can show him he does, just like you did for me. I believe in you.”

Coulson appears from around a corner, staring down at the floor as he arrives.

“I’m going to go and check on Elena,” she says, planting a kiss on Daisy’s forehead as she does. “It’ll be alright, okay?” 

Daisy gives her a shaky nod, and she walks off to go and find Elena. She has a feeling her girlfriend isn’t the only one who needs a lecture on the power of choice.

\---

“When did you start being the team therapist, anyway,” Fitz asks Raina as they’re working on the Gravitonium problem.

“Please,” she replies, “I’m not a therapist, I’m just the most mentally healthy one here. Compared to you all, I’ve been through shockingly little trauma.”

“Wasn’t the whole, ghost thing pretty traumatic?”

“Not really. I was either with Daisy, or I didn’t exist – not half bad, to be honest with you. Being real took a bit of getting used to, but I wouldn’t call it traumatic.” 

“Yeah, well, lucky you.” Fitz glances down a page of notes, and then his expression turns cold. “Daisy’s powers would work to compress the Gravitonium.” He looks up at her, and her gut twists – she doesn’t like the look in his eyes one bit. It’s the kind of look she’d seen in her own eyes far too many times.

“Even if that worked, Daisy would never agree to it. She's determined to keep the inhibitor chip in.” Fitz just cocks his head at her, far too cold, far too emotionless for him. She figures out what’s going on just a second too late.

“In that case, we’re just going to have to force the issue.” Something collides with her head from behind, and everything goes black.

\---

She wakes up in a makeshift lab, and the first thing she sees is Daisy opposite her, strapped to a table and crying.

“This rift could be what destroys the world,” Fitz is saying. “Your powers could be what save it.”

“Fitz,” she cries out, voice weak. “Fitz, you need to listen to me – “

“Oh, look who’s awake. I’d think you’d approve of this, Raina – of anyone, surely you understand the need to take risks in the name of science?” It makes her gut churn, because she does – this is exactly the kind of thing she would have done, before. Hell, at least he’s doing this to save the world, not just himself.

“Fitz, this isn’t you. The framework’s messed with your head, making you think you have to do this, but you don’t, you always have a choice – “ She’s interrupted Fitz kicking her in the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. He kneels down in front of her, reaching out a hand and trailing a finger along one of her thorns.

“Choices, choices, choices. You do love to preach about them, don’t you. But you’re wrong, Raina – sometimes, there’s only one option. Sometimes there isn’t a choice.” He moves his hand down to her neck, pulling aside the neckline of the jumper she was wearing. “I see you’ve removed your own inhibitor. Care to give me any tips?”

“Not on that, no. I’ve got a tip for you on being a supervillain, though – never cuff someone’s hands behind their back.” And with that she swings an arm around, plunging a thorn into Fitz’s hand on her neck – honestly, she was practically covered with ready made lockpicks, wasn’t the Doctor supposed to be smart? – and she has another thorn poised at his throat when Jemma runs into the room.

“What the –“

“Jemma, I need you to get Daisy out of that.”

“Raina? Raina what are you – oh god, my hand, Raina,” Fitz is crying now, staring at her with fear in his eyes, and she hates it. Jemma raises her ICER, pointing it at Raina.

“Let him go, Raina.” 

“Jemma, he’s had some kind of split – he tied up Daisy, he was going to take out the inhibitor by force, you need to untie her before – “

The mech arrives, Deke in tow, and points an actual gun straight at her head.

“Before that,” Fitz drawls, eyes cold once again. “If anyone tries to untie Daisy, they die. Now release me, or my new friend here will start shooting people. I think… Deke first, perhaps?”

“Anyone dies, and you do too,” Raina replies, letting her thorn extend just far enough to nick his throat.

“Raina!” Jemma cries out, but the Mech swings its gun to point at her the moment she reaches out.

“Even if I die, you’ll still end up removing the inhibitor. You’ll have to, there’s no other way – you’re hardly going to let the world die.”

“Then let her do it.” Daisy speaks, for the first time since Raina woke up here. She jerks her head to look at Daisy, face bruised and covered in tears.

“Daisy – “

“Is he right? If I have my powers back – could I do it?”

“Yes, but – you don’t have to, Daisy, we’ll find another way – “

“I know I don’t have to, Raina. This is my choice. It’s – I think it might be okay, if it’s you.” She lets Fitz go, walking over to kneel beside Daisy.

“You’re sure?” Daisy laughs at that, wet and choked but still so familiar.

“Of course I’m not sure, I’m terrified! But I trust you. If you say we’ll find a way, we’ll – we’ll find a way.” God, she loved this woman. She really needed to tell her that, some time soon.

“Jemma, can you get me some painkillers? And get Fitz out of here.” If they were doing this, it was damn well going to be safe, and painless.

\---

She’s sitting with Elena, testing things out with her new arms, when Jemma and Fitz find her again the next day. Fitz has a box in his hands.

“Fitz,” she greets him curtly – she knows he wasn’t well, that he needs help, that he’s getting it now, but still. She can’t help but be angry.

“I, uh. I just wanted to, to say sorry, and thank you, for stopping me – and uh, I didn’t really know what sort of words would be enough for that, so I got Jemma to help and – “

Jemma takes the box from him and hands it to her.

“It’s some clothes we designed to work with your inhuman traits. We noticed that you’ve only really been wearing tactical gear recently, and you used to wear such lovely dresses, and – “ Raina opens the box to find a pile of clothes, neatly folded. They almost all seem to have some kind of flowers on them, but right at the top is a beautiful blue dress, patterned with daisies.

“I know I can’t just snap my fingers and, and make what I did go away. But I want to make up for it.” 

Raina sighs. So much for being angry, she supposed. She set the box to the side, stood, and enveloped Fitz in a hug.

“After all I’ve done, I can hardly hold this against you. Just try not to go all evil again, okay? It’s nowhere near as good a look on you as it was on me.” That gets a laugh out of him, and she sits back down. 

“Can I – can I get you guys’ advice on something?” Elena says, and they all turn to look at her. “I just – I haven’t told anybody this yet, but in the future, when I met myself, she said that we had – that we had to let Coulson die, if we wanted to stop the apocalypse.” The room suddenly felt a little bit colder.

“Great,” she remarks, “like he needs another reason to get all sacrificial on us.”

“I know, that’s why I haven’t said anything – but now Hydra have him, and I feel like we’re just getting closer and closer to the future we all saw.”

Jemma speaks up at that. “You know, I was talking to Deke earlier, about… well, it’s complicated, but he said that none of the prophecies ever mentioned a woman covered in thorns. Not everybody was named, of course, but Daisy and Yoyo’s powers were both mentioned explicitly – and I was thinking, since your powers were at least originally centred around time, and since despite every scientific principle suggesting it’s impossible inhuman traits do seem to develop for a purpose – I thought, perhaps that was the purpose of yours, Raina, in the end? To break the loop?” 

What? That – that couldn’t be right.

“That would make sense actually – time is fixed, I still believe that, but if anything was able to alter time on a meta-dimensional level it would have to be some kind of, specifically designed system for doing so – an organic system, sent through into the timeline intangibly and designed to only become corporeal and start altering things when the loop has already started – “ She tunes them out as Jemma interrupts Fitz again, looking down to meet Elena’s eyes. 

“You are always going on about choice,” Elena says. “It would be sort of appropriate, for your power to literally be giving us all that.”

She didn't quite believe it, but it was a nice thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Mack’s running things whilst Coulson is gone – apparently he finally got over himself and realised Daisy had absolutely no desire to be a leader. She’s sitting with Daisy in a corner on the Zephyr, waiting for some or other brilliant program she’s designed to match a literal child’s drawing to a real life mountain range.

“I love the dress,” Daisy says, “but is it really combat ready? I can’t imagine fighting in a skirt.”

“Fitzsimmons said that whilst they were making it thorn-proof they just decided to go full-hog and make it bullet-proof too,” she replies, “and besides, with my powers, it’s probably better to have as many thorns out as possible. And the dresses did always put people off-guard.”

“Yeah, I think that worked on me a couple times actually,” Daisy laughs, “but maybe that was just me getting distracted by your rockin’ bod before we were even together.” 

Raina just rolls her eyes at that, and feels grateful that she can’t really blush anymore. “Did Fitzsimmons tell you their theory about my gift?”

“Yeah, they mentioned it after they were done apologising to me, before I sent them off with Yoyo to investigate that storage facility. Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know. It makes so much sense, but it also seems so odd, that it would be me. Raina, saviour of the Earth – it doesn’t sound quite right.”

“Sounds right to me,” Daisy replies. “I mean, I’ve saved the world plenty of times, makes sense that the woman I love would be on the same level.” Raina turns to stare at her, wondering if that was a slip of the tongue, a mistake – but Daisy’s just giving her a knowing look, smirking slightly. 

“You love me?”

“I’ve loved you since that day in the hotel room, I think. I saw you then, for the first time, and I still see you today, and you’re so amazing – so bright and so determined and so compassionate, even when you have every reason not to be, and you make me want to be like you. To be better. You still do.”

Raina leans over and kisses her, long and slow and like it’s everything in the world. “I love you too,” she says, “even if that was disgustingly cheesy.”

Daisy laughs, and the program makes a noise, and then they’re off to save the world.

\---

They rescue Coulson, and then they go to take down the Hydra base, only to find it empty – Hale surrenders, and Daisy takes her hand and tells her that they were going to do everything they could to save her daughter. 

They’re too late to stop Ruby getting the infusion – Fitz cancels it a fraction of the way through, though, and between them Hale and Daisy talk the girl down (she couldn’t be more proud of her girlfriend, in that moment). She sees Yoyo tense, ready to do – something, but Raina grabs her hand and tries her best to put her entire “We always have a choice” speech into a single look. It works, she supposes, because next thing she knows Ruby’s collapsing to the floor, the strain of the power on her body dragging her into unconsciousness, and it feels like they’ve won.

Daisy tells her about her and May’s plan when they get back, and asks her to look after Ruby whilst they go to find something that could save Coulson. Which is how she ends up on babysitting duty for an 18-year-old Destroyer of Worlds.

“Your face is like, super ugly, you know,” she says from the bundle of pillows she appears to have made her nest in. “And like, your whole body, too. If I were you, I’d be covering all that up, not showing it off.”

“I could kill you with a single one of these thorns,” Raina replies, “And I don’t particularly care what you think of my appearance. Dating a superhero rather puts a damper on any attempts to feel insecure about such things.” Ruby goes quiet for a bit at that.

“The voices in my head know you,” she says after a while. “or at least one of them does. Quinn says good job getting hitched with Skye, she’s a real catch. Also fuck you for killing him.”

She…had actually forgotten, that it was her that gave Quinn to the gravitonium. It had been such a minor event, in between a lot of much more important things. And he had been a scumbag.

Still.

“Tell Quinn I am sorry, for what I did. Truly. He was hardly free of sin himself, but nonetheless, it was wrong.” 

Ruby, she thinks, is fishing for a reaction, and seems more than a little frustrated at not getting one if the items levitating up around the room are anything to go by.

“So, what, you’re just reformed now? You just snapped your fingers and, and stopped being a killer? It doesn’t work like that, you can’t just spend your whole life doing awful things and then just turn around and stop!” Ruby hisses. Ah. She thinks she sees the problem, now.

“It was not quite as simple as you make it seem, Ruby, but yes. I chose to be better. So can you – you’ve already started, step by step. You chose not to follow your mother anymore, even if it was for selfish reasons. You chose not to hurt us, in the warehouse. You are choosing even now, to control yourself as best you can, to avoid hurting me. It will not be easy, and it will not be simple, but if you so choose, you can be better. You can be a hero, even.” The objects around the room abruptly clatter to the floor at that last part, and the girl starts sobbing, curling up into a ball.

“I – I always wanted to – to be a hero, I did, I just – they raised me to, to be a weapon, and she was always so disappointed in me, and I thought I had to – “ Raina shuffles over to her, and pulls her into a hug.

“It’s okay. I understand. It’s going to be okay.” She holds Ruby like that for a while, till the crying stops, and feels so grateful to have had the life she’s had if it gave her what she needed to do this. Help people, comfort them, protect them. Teach a kid that she can be so much more than a villain.

\---

The Remorath are attacking, and they’re barely holding their ground – there’s just too many of them, and they can only assume there’s more waiting in the ship above if they beat these ones. Her, Simmons, Elena and Ruby have been pushed back to a storage room, Simmons laying down covering fire whilst the rest of them catch their breath.

“Is that the infusion chamber?” Ruby asks, and – oh no, she can see what’s going through the girl’s head, absolutely not – 

“No!” Simmons cries out as she slams the door shut. “You are not getting into that thing again, do you remember what it did to you last time?” As frustrating as Raina finds her sometimes, she has to admit they do usually agree on things. That has to count for something.

“Do any of you have any better ideas?” Ruby retorts, pulling the sheet off of the chamber. “Maybe it won’t work, but – I already have the voices under control. The connections already there, I don’t think that’s going to get any worse just because I have more of the stuff in me.” And that’s – well, that’s a good point, but there’s still no way she’s letting Ruby get in that chamber. She’s just a kid!

She voices this sentiment, but Ruby just rolls her eyes in that awful, annoying way the kid does. “Technically I’m an adult, at least in most countries.” Raina just glares at her harder, and something in the kid’s face seems to actually soften, at that. “I get to choose, right? I – I don’t know yet, about what you said, if I want to be a hero or a villain or just like, a baker or some shit, but – I can’t be any of that, if we’re all dead. Please, Raina.”

Jemma and Yoyo are pressed up against the door now, desperately trying to hold it closed. She hates this, she hates that Ruby has a point, she hates that any of this is happening, but – 

“Alright,” she says. “But you should know, Daisy’s going to have such a go at you when she gets back.”

\---

By the time Daisy does get back, it’s all more or less over. The Remorath sent packing, the Confederacy persuaded to back off for good. Ruby, somehow, is controlling all of the gravitonium – Fitzsimmons are working on a solve to get the stuff out of her before it messes up her body permanently, but she’s pretty sure they’re going to manage it. They’ve solved more complicated problems.

“Hey,” Daisy says, stepping over some debris to get into Raina’s room. “So, what the fuck happened to the base?”

“Remorath attack. Ruby infused herself with all the gravitonium and send them packing.”

“She what?!”

“Yeah, I told her you were gonna yell at her when you got back. She’s fine, though, and Fitzsimmons will have it all out of her soon enough.” 

Daisy collapses down beside her on the bed, pulling Raina down so she was spooning her.

“Awfully needy of you, darling.”

“Yeah, well, I just dug up my mom’s corpse, so. I get to be needy. Good news though – I reckon we can save Coulson.”

“That was her body in the duffel I saw earlier? I guess that makes sense. Can’t say I feel good about having my murderer’s body anywhere near me, especially since she has a nasty habit of coming back to life, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Daisy laughs and rolls over, burying her face in Raina’s chest.

“You reckon it’s over now? We stopped Hydra, stopped the confederacy, there won’t even be a destroyer of worlds for that much longer – I guess we, what, destroy the machine? Is that really it?”

“I think it might be, actually. I’ve been lying in this bed for a whole 4 or 5 hours, and usually something would have happened in that time, so I think either the world’s just going to spontaneously blow up now, or we’re all good.”

“Hm,” Daisy responds, pulling Raina closer to her. “You make a good point. Either way, guess we’ll just have to lie here together and see.”

And so they do.


End file.
